5 of Pentacles - the bell

The origin of stained glass is obscure & may have been accidental, but evidence of the creation & use of coloured glass has been found in excavations of ancient civilizations--Arabian, Egyptian & Roman. Its best-known use has been for churches especially during medieval Europe in churches.

Traditionally, the images depicted in stained glass art tells a story or of an event; &/or creates an iconic image. The pentacle in stained glass can be seen as man in the earth, encased in matter yet striving for spiritual completion, to attain divinity.

The pentacle is composed of a 5-pointed star shape within a circle. The 5-pointed star is representative of man or the human spirit. The circle is perfect & complete in itself with no beginning nor ending. Expressive of the earthly life; life & death in the earth; eternity; the divine or the superconscious.

The depth of skill & labour required to produce stained glass relates it to knowledge & effort resulting/manifesting in a thing of beauty or the tangible (in the earth plane).

The bell seems to allude to when those stricken with leprosy were required to warn others of their condition. Old drawings oft depict them wearing not only ragged clothing, but with limbs wrapped in rags to hide the disfigurement & to prevent contact.

Bells are also used to repel "evil" or bad fortune; in ritual to dispel the negative or to mark one stage to another.

Alright, you've got two people, one on crutches with a bell around his neck, with a sandal on one foot, while the other is bandaged. The other person looks to be barefooted. Both are wearing dirty threadbare torn rags. They're not looking at the window to the church. And they're walking in snow! SNOW! I'd like you guys up north to go outside right now and try walking around in that snow barefoot and see how long you can do it? (We've got 80 degrees down here)
My question is....why don't they go inside? Alright, maybe they're not allowed to because of leprosy or whatever. But, wouldn't you expect them to look with longing towards the place of warmth and comfort? But they're not. They're specifically looking away from it, as if they are so centered on their own problems and self-pity that they cannot see the help and comfort that is right by them.
Now, I've known people that are so wrapped up in themselves that they don't want help. They like playing the victim, and when people try to help them, they shun the help and automatically think it wouldn't help anyways. I've never understood those people...
Also, has anyone noticed that the 5 pentacles looks like they are connected like in a candleabra?

Triquetra and Meewah...like what both of you have said...additonal perspectives Meehwah.."man encased in matter yet striving for spiritual completion." and Triquetra, the idea of their not noticing the "church" represented by stained glass...and not wanting help because of self-pity..like that, too...as if the help is right next to them, but they can't "see" it....good ideas...
terri

Sometimes when bad luck, poverty, sickness happens to people they shun God because they feel he has let them down.
They get angry with God and anything spiritual.
So they reject any help out of anger or disappointment.

I have also often found that this card points to someone feeling unworthy.
I had this happen the other night.
Wonderful person very competent, everytime she gets promoted she can't accept it.
Because she feels unworthy.
This card came up twice for her that night.
And we ended up talking and exploring the cards at length about where her feelings of unworthiness were coming from.

Hey…lets’ take a second and just look at this card.

We have two folks in the snow; both dressed in threadbare clothing, one on crutches with a bandage around his head and foot, bell around his neck. The other may be caressing a cross worn round the neck.

They are passing by a stained glass window.

Now let’s pick up our copies of “The Pictorial Key to the Tarot” by Arthur Edward Waite, page 272…”This card tells of material trouble above all, whether in the form illustrated – that is destitution – or otherwise.” Thank you Arthur…that will be all.

I’ve hated the simplistic approach that Waite begins us on…it locks our mind into that “Destitution” trap.

Pollack, in “78 Degree’s of Pith” (page 252) does an even worse job, describing how the church has no door, or the people DO NOT see the church that sanctuary has failed…neither author gets a passing grade.

Let’s back up the cart here. For starters, we do not know if the couple shown is headed to the church door. Perhaps they are arriving. Perhaps they are leaving. We only get a snapshot here, and we don’t get blueprints for the church…(“no door” ROFL…what a pompus idiot….).

But we miss the point.

We are not allowed to glimpse HOW these folks got to be in the place they are. We do not get the privilege to look over their shoulder (like in a reality TV show) and see the series of events that led to here and now. We cannot see if perhaps they are on the last leg of a journey to bring them here, to the church (whose doors are wide open…just around the corner).

Perhaps it’s just a begging bell – perhaps it’s a leprosy bell (note the bandages upon the man)…perhaps he is arriving in the night for treatments – as the church does have a history of providing relief for those suffering from Hansen's Disease (there was a treatment involving the bark of a tree, used for ages….).

We do know this (or can infer it…we cannot infer the church has no door…how did the workmen leave? How did they do the window installation?). The couple is in a state of movement from point A to B. Point B may or may not be the church. But there was a series of events that led up to this picture…and that in my worldview is what the card is about. How did they get here? Destitution does not just happen.

Another point…

If you spend time in the woods, you learn to make noise, or wear bells, to keep certain omnivores away (Bears, Mountain Lions)…it just warns them off, and you may get to your destination alive. Notice the couple could conceivably have been traveling right to this spot! Enduring hardships! And there was a series of decisions that got them here alive.

Am I making sense yet?

ty, Umbrae....

Somehow, I don't see these two has having anything to do literally with the church...either coming to or going away from it.

Just that it is a dark card...destitution...as you said, U,
that part is clear...they just look as though they are passing by...not even noticing the stained glass window with the pentacles in it...I still can't get rid of the image of "rich" churches and so many "destitute" people in the world...it's as though, "religion" is not an option for solace for some poor people who need food, medical care, a home....The church stands there, a symbol for help to its members, but ....

I don't know...I just feel that it's like showing how much wealth and "religion" is out there, but how many people, also, can't or don't access that as a source.

That's why when I draw this card, I look at the others surrounding it....I did a CC reading for my friend, yesterday..and the first card was 5 pent with the 3 Cups over it....Knowing her question, it seemed clear to me that the situation was that she was needy, depressed, lost, suffering...and the 3 C (RW) were opposing that feeling by encouraging her to find an outlet for celebration or fun, not solitary (which she had been doing...glued to the tv) but something social....anyhow, that part and the rest of the reading resonated well with her...and she feels it gave her direction....I said that religion was not the place where she would find her solution...somehow, it felt right.

terri

Of course, it's always possible that the only reason for the church window (and thus the church) is so that Pamela Colman Smith would have a way to work five pentacles into the picture.

-- Lee

Wow..amazing thread.

I've never noticed the bell around the neck, or the tower behind the window.

Lee you have amazing eyesight. I never would have seen those tiny bells on the AoC either!

In my mind this card represents the contrast between organized religion and spirituality. In the symbolism of bells, a small bell with a tinkling sound represents spirituality while a large bell with a deep tone represents an earthy, material aspect. Perhaps the tower behind the window is a bell tower? The window itself doesn't look like the window of an actual building, but an icon placed there to symbolically represent religion.

The two figures, for whatever reason, have placed their hope in the unseen, spiritual dimension. Waite, in The Key, says they are mendicants (beggars). A mendicant can be an ordinary beggar in the street or a monk belonging to a religious order. This gives us a key clue to the meaning. The two people are associated with The Hermit, while the pentacles and symbolism in the background are associated with The Hierophant.

So, what's the point, that poverty is spiritual and materialism is not? Maybe. Waite didn't have too many kind things to say about religious hypocrites from what I've read of him. But there's nothing really good or morally superior about poverty either. I think this card is simply an illustration to show the difference between spirituality and religion. An extreme illustration perhaps, but an effective one.

fools_fool

Yes, and it depends on the background and context, as Umbrae and some others have said. It is impossible to read as a "stand alone" card.

In Africa and other places, including here, churches are community centres with not much money at all but with good buildings and a central location where people can go for support, company and shelter if they need it.

Another thing about this card is that there are "two" people, indicating perhaps that one need not be alone in the cold. The stained glass windows light the darkness too.

I also get a sense of transition from the card. There is a before and after, as in most difficult life passages.

The Esoteric title for the card is "Lord of Material Trouble," and is associated with Mercury in Taurus. The overall scene depicts such material trouble for the couple. The astrological attribution and the card number show its connection to The Hierophant card, which is Taurus. The bell is supposed to be in the shape as that of the Hierophant's body, and represents the attribute of hearing as listening, particularly to that of one's inner voice of intuition.

The Pentagram within the Pentacle represents that of five rotations of the eight-year cyclic stations of the planet Venus. There being five pentacles, that represents five eight-year Venusian cycles, or forty years, which is biblically considered a generation of Man.

The card can be taken to represent the general state of humanity, with the light from the church as being that of the Inner Light of Esotericism through that of the Western Mystery/Metaphysical Tradition, which is hidden from the materialistic mundane world. Unless the individual becomes aware of the existence of that Inner Light, they move throughout the world in the travails and bonds of materialistic ignorance unaware of that Sanctuary of Liberation which may be nearer than they imagined and/or realized.